WEBVTT IT WAS ONE NIGHT AS A FRESHMANIN COLLEGE THAT HAS CHANGEDMARISSA MESSINGER'S LIFEFOREVER.>> THERE WILL NEVER BE A NIGHTWHERE I WON'T CHECK MY DOOR TOMAKE SURE IT'S LOCKED FOUR ORFIVE TIMES.I WILL NEVER WALK THE STREETSAYING WHAT'S BEHIND MY, SHOULDER.I WILL CONSTANTLY WAKE UP IN THEMIDDLE OF THE NIGHT FEELINGTHOSE EMOTIONS AND THOSEFEELINGS. HANNAH: THE RECENTLY-CROWNEDMISS POLK COUNTY WAS SEXUALLYASSAULTED BY SOMEONE SHE KNEWABOUT TWO YEARS AGO ATBRIARCLIFF UNIVERSITY.SHE WASN'T ABLE TO PRESSCHARGES, BUT HER UNIVERSITY WASABLE TO PROVIDE HER WITH A CIVILNO-CONTACT ORDER.SOMETHING SHE SAYS SHE WOULD NOTHAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET IF ITWEREN'T FOR THE SCHOOL, BECAUSEIOWA DOES NOT HAVE CIVILPROTECTIVE ORDERS FOR SEXUALASSAULT VICTIMS.>> HAVING THAT LITTLE PIECE OFPAPER BEHIND YOU, IT DOES HELP.IT IS A SENSE OF SECURITY ANDIT'S JUST A LITTLE GLIMPSE OFTHEIR HOPE. HANNAH: CRIMINAL PROTECTIVEORDERS ARE SOMETHING DES MOINESPOLICE SERGEANT PAUL PARIZEKSAYS THEY RESPOND TO DAILY.>> IF WE DON'T MAKE AN ARRESTRIGHT THEN AT THAT MOMENT, WE'REGOING TO MAKE AN ARREST LATER IFWE CAN DETERMINE THAT THEVIOLATION DID OCCUR. HANNAH: MESSINGER WANTS THATSAME PROTECTION FOR CIVILORDERS, AND IS USING HERPOSITION AS MISS POLK COUNTY TOMEET WITH STATE LAWMAKERS TOHOPEFULLY GET THAT DONE.>> IT'S JUST INCREDIBLE TO BEHERE IN CROWN AND SASH SHARINGMY STORY TO BE THE STRENGTH OFOTHER SURVIVORS THROUGHOUT MYSTATE.

Miss Polk County is advocating for more protection for sexual-assault victims, a topic recently highlighted after the arrest of a Dubuque man who broke into his former girlfriend’s apartment and used a knife to stick a copy of a no-contact order on her apartment wall.

Police said Bodhi-Kristoffer McGowan, 24, was arrested on charges of burglary and violating a no-contact order the woman had sought against him after he posted a chilling message along the lines of: Who’s going to stop me?

Authorities said the woman reported that she returned Monday from a trip and found that her apartment had been ransacked.

How effective are protective orders?

Des Moines police said they respond to multiple calls a day concerning protective orders and take them very seriously.

But Marissa Messinger, Miss Polk County, said there’s a level of protection missing in the state.

“There will never be a night where I won’t check my door to make sure it’s locked four or five times,” said Messinger, who was allegedly sexually assaulted about two years ago at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. “I will never walk the streets (without) seeing what’s behind my shoulder. I will constantly wake up in the middle of the night feeling those emotions and those feelings.”

The attack happened during her freshman year, and she wasn’t able to press charges. But college officials did provide her with a civil no-contact order, something she says would not have been able to obtain from the state because Iowa does not have civil protective orders for sexual-assault victims.

“Having that little piece of paper behind you, it does help,” Messinger said. “It is a sense of security, and it’s just a little glimpse of their hope.”